


A Pancake Party

by SimplyUnknown



Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: And seeks Perfection, Birthday Parties, Brotherly Love, Donnie Tries Too Hard, Gen, Leo and Raph don't help, Pancakes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-20 17:02:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17026635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SimplyUnknown/pseuds/SimplyUnknown
Summary: In order to make Michelangelo's 13th birthday a success, everything has to be perfect. Donnie is a master of science, and baking is science, right? How hard can whipping up a few pancakes be? Secret Santa gift for Sanna!





	A Pancake Party

**Author's Note:**

> Secret Santa Gift for Sanna! Prompt was Donnie and Pancakes. Hope you enjoy this and merry Christmas/Hanukah/Kwanzaa/whatever holiday you celebrate!

"Ok, so we're all clear on the plan?" Raph asked for the fifth time since this meeting had started. Donnie rolled his eyes and continued his modifications on his staff. The chainsaw kept popping out at odd times and he really needed to fix that.

"Yes, Raph. We were clear the first time," the blue-clad turtle groaned as he nudged a bag of party favors with his foot. "You're grabbing Mikey's present, April's picking up the cake, I'm decorating, and Don's in charge of food. Now can we start? Dad can only keep Mikey occupied at the dump for so long."

"I know, I know. It's just...this is his _13th_ birthday. He's finally a teenager! And we owe it to our little bro to make his big day perfect!" Raph declared with an expression he probably thought was heroic and leaderly. Honestly, Don thought it looked more stressed and overanxious.

"And we will, Raphy," Leo soothed with a pat to the eldest brother's head. "Now go pick up his present so we can start..."

"But what if things go horribly wrong and start out Mikey's teenage years as the _worst_ years of his life and..." Leo and Donnie shared an equally exasperated look before the pair stepped forward and slapped their hands over the nervously rambling Raph's mouth.

"Things will be fine, Raph. Nothing is going to happen that will ruin Mikey's teendom," Donnie promised. "We can handle it."

"And if we don't, we'll just have a second party to make up for it!" Leo declared. He shrugged cheerfully at Raph's confused stare and Don's glare. "What? That's what we did for me and Donnie when we turned 13."

 _"Just because we're the closest in age doesn't make us twins, Leo!"_ Donnie snarled as an old rage rose to the surface. "You were just trying to steal **_my_** big day, _again!"_

An evil smirk slid onto the slider's face, confirming once again that Leonardo was a gremlin in disguise. He suddenly lunged forward, clamping his arms around the flailing softshell. "Love me, twin!"

"GAH! You're the reason I'm scared of togetherness!" Raphael sighed at the antics of his younger brothers as he reached out and easily pulled the pair apart.

"Alright, that's enough." He carefully picked up one of the bags and shoved it into Leo's arms. "Get decorating, Leo. Oh, and here Donnie." Raph tugged a ragged piece of paper out of his belt and handed it to the genius. "I asked Mikey if he wanted anything special for his birthday dinner last week. He gave it to me before he and Pops left." Donnie glanced down at the single word on the page and felt an eyebrow rise.

"Pancakes? Really? That's what he wants for his birthday dinner?"

"What's wrong with pancakes?" Leo asked with a curious tilt of his head.

"Nothing," Donnie replied as he quickly glanced away. It would be a million years before he'd admit that he was kinda...disappointed.  Mikey was the master chef of the family and most times he was happy to leave the orange turtle to it, but... Cooking and baking were types of science, right? And Donatello was the master of science. Was it really so bad that he wanted to be challenged?

Thankfully, Leo and Raph let the matter drop. "Alright, I'm heading out. And this place better be perfect by the time Mikey and Dad get home," Raph ordered before heading for the door. As his shadow faded from sight, Leo gathered up the rest of the bags and Don entered the kitchen. Much like his lab, it was perfectly clean with everything in a neatly labeled place. _'I wonder where that labelmaker got to anyways...'_ Donnie briefly pondered before shoving it aside. There were things to do.

Setting up a quick search on his tablet for How to Make Pancakes, the softshell skimmed through the directions before getting started. "Ok, flour, eggs, milk, butter, baking powder..." A quick search of the cabinets turned up no baking powder. But there was baking soda in the fridge. "Eh, close enough," Donnie decided. He made substitutions all the time with his inventions, and wasn't cooking all about spontaneity? Tossing it onto the counter with the rest of the ingredients, the purple turtle began his work. As he began mixing up the powders, a thought occurred to him. Donnie glanced towards the living room, where Leo was blowing up orange balloons. "Leo, you didn't swap any of the baking supplies around for a prank, did you?"

The red-eared slider gave Donnie a dirty look. "Don, you know how Miguel is about his cooking supplies. I wouldn't touch them, promise!" Don pondered for a few seconds before nodding; an angry Michelangelo was a terrifying thing. He returned to his mixing. But then the directions got a bit...confusing.

"Make a well in center. What?" He turned to his tablet and began searching. After five minutes of scrolling through multiple recipes and one Wikipedia definition of an actual well, Donnie concluded...that he had no idea. "It can't be that important, right?"

"What can't be important?"

 ** _"GAH!"_** Donnie leapt a foot in the air at Leo's innocent question. The slider snickered. "LEO! What are you doing here?"

"I'm done. Came to see how you were doing." Donnie blinked a few times before peeking out of the kitchen. True to his word, the lair was decorated in streamers, balloons, and plenty of birthday memorabilia. Leo glanced at the bowl of still dry ingredients. "Um, pretty sure pancake batter is a bit...wetter than this, Don."

"Don't touch that," Donnie slapped Leo's questing hand away with the ease of long practice. "I'm just researching how to make a well."

"Like this?" To the softshell's surprise, Leo picked up a wooden spoon, scooped the powders together and then flipped it over to press a hole in the center. He smirked at Donnie's gobsmacked look. "I think you're overthinking things again."

"Shut up, I think the perfect amount," Don instantly protested as he shoved his younger brother away. "Now shoo, I need to finish this." Leo rolled his eyes and let himself be pushed out the kitchen. He pulled out his phone as Donnie added the wet ingredients and continued his mixing. Finally, he was able to turn to the griddle that had been warming this entire time. "Ok, now scoop some onto the griddle..." With the delicacy of a surgeon, he poured out batter, frowning when it didn't form the perfect circle he'd intended.

"Something wrong, Don?" 

"Everything is **_perfect_** , Leon," Donnie hissed through his teeth as he tried flip the pancake. It floated in the air for about three seconds before a chunk split off and fell to the floor. The two turtles stared for a few seconds before the slider started snickering again. "Just a minor setback!" the softshell protested, quickly dumping out more batter.

A few failed attempts at flipping later, Donnie placed a plate of mostly round pancakes on the table. "There. All WHAT ARE YOU DOING, LEONARDO!" The pancake rising towards Leo's mouth stopped. "Those are Mikey's pancakes!"

"Don't you want to be sure they taste good first?" The sensible question made the science lover pause. Leo grinned and took a huge bite. He chewed cheerfully for a few seconds, then slowed. The cheerful smile faded into confusion. "Uh, Donnie? I...I think you did something wrong."

"Wrong? What's wrong? Do they taste bad? Did I add too much salt? How..." Leo quickly shoved part of the bitten pancake into his brother's mouth. Donnie chewed for a bit before realizing exactly what Leo was talking about. He tasted...nothing. "...I added salt and sugar. How do they taste like nothing?!"

The blue-masked turtle nodded. "Yeah, and they're kinda thick too. I mean, the ones that Mikey makes are lighter. " Instantly, Donnie turned to his batter and dumped it into the sink. The completed pancakes were tossed in the trash.

"Ok, first try was bad. But I shall prevail!" With a look of determination, Donnie dove back into baking. Leo sighed; Don was treating this more like one of his experiments than food.

"Look, I'm gonna go see if Raph and April need any help. Make sure you finish these before Mikey and Dad get home, alright?" Don grunted in response, carefully measuring sugar out. Leo rolled his eyes and headed for the door. Donnie would be fine from here.

* * *

 

_ Donnie's Pancake Notes _

_Hypothesis: Add more salt and sugar to make more tasty.  
_

_Batch 2: Too much salt. But at least it wasn't flavorless anymore._

* * *

 

_ Donnie's New Pancake Notes _

_Hypothesis: Add much more sugar to make less salty.  
_

_Batch 5: No longer too salty. But now much too sweet. Maybe just dumping half the sugar into the bowl was a bad idea._

* * *

 

_ Donnie's ~~New New New New Why am I so freaking bad at this?~~ Pancake Notes _

~~_ Hypoth: I don't even know what I'm doing anymore. _ ~~

_Batch 10: WHY DO THEY KEEP FALLING APART WHEN BEING FLIPPED?!_

* * *

 

Mikey quickly closed the door on the small section of the sewers where they stored old machines for Donnie to tear apart. Their dump trip was finally over which meant he could _finally_ see what his brothers had done for his birthday! "All done, Pops. Can I go now?! Please!?"

Splinter was already heading for the den and his easy chair. He waved over his head and Mikey whooped and raced upstairs. He knew his family was planning a big party for him and he couldn't wait to see it. Skidding into the main room, the orange clad turtle spun around. He took in the banners with his name on them, the orange and green balloons and streamers, the Donnie sitting with his face down on the table...wait. "Donnie? You okay?" Mikey asked as he crept closer to his older brother. His eyes widened at the state of his usually clean kitchen, now filled with used bowls and spoons and smelling vaguely of batter. "Whoa. What happened?"

"I failed," Donnie muttered as he turned his head to look at his youngest brother. "I failed you, Mikey. All you wanted was pancakes and I couldn't make them. I ruined your birthday."

"D, you didn't ruin my birthday," Mikey protested. Honestly, he was more touched by the mess than anything else. It proved how much Donnie had wanted to make his birthday special. He thought for a few seconds and then a smile crept onto his face. "Hey Donnie. You know what would make my birthday _really_ special?" The soft-shell lifted his head slightly. "Wanna make pancakes with me?"

For a few seconds, there was silence. And then Don smiled. "Yeah. I'd like that, Mikey."

"Great!" Mikey turned and opened a cabinet, pulling out a bright red box. "Lucky you didn't use all the pancake batter. All we need is some water and..." _**Bang!**_ Mikey blinked at his brother, who dropped his head back to the table with a groan. "Donnie? You ok?"

* * *

"So how exactly did you picking up a present for Mikey result in the destruction of a post office again?" April asked as the trio made their way back to the lair.

"They said Mikey's gift would take a few more days to arrive. So we had to fix that," Raph explained with a dopey grin. Leo nodded and April rolled her eyes. At least she wouldn't be getting any spam for a couple of weeks.

"Mikey, Donnie, we're home!" Leo called out as they entered. "We've got cake!"

"So do we!" Mikey beamed back from behind a huge stack of pancakes. Donnie waved with a spatula as he added a few more to a second plate. "Come try them!"

"So you finally got the hang of it?" Leo asked as he snagged a pancake. He tore it in half before tossing one side over his shoulder for Raph to snap out of the air. Taking a cautious bite, the slider chewed and then beamed. "Yeah, these are much better D. Nice job."

"Taste good," Raph agreed through a mouthful of dough.

Donnie shrugged, silently pleased. He glanced over his shoulder at Mikey, who was busily digging into his food and perfectly content to let his brother take the credit. Reaching over, he rubbed the top of his now teenaged brother's head. "Happy birthday, Mikey."

Mikey beamed up at him. "Thanks Donnie. Can I open my presents now?"

"Let me grab Pops and then you can," Raph answered as he turned towards Splinter's TV room. As his family made their way to the small pile of presents April was setting up, Donnie lingered to pick up a pancake to sample.

They were pretty good.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I know this probably isn't what the prompt was about, but I couldn't get the image of Donnie trying and failing to make pancakes out of my head. All the things that happened to Donnie are indeed problems first time pancake makers can have. Course, it didn't help that I found probably the most vague pancake recipe for him to use. At least he and Mikey got some good bonding time out of it. Happy holidays to all!


End file.
